sábado, 18 de enero de 2014

What does the sound of snow falling from the branches of a tree sound like to you?

This morning I was walking through the forest after a night
of heavy snowfall and all was that spooky, snowy silence except ... the sound
of the snow falling, the melt already beginning, from the branches of the
pylonic pine and beech trees that surrounded me. It got me thinking about
sounds and what this particular one reminded me of.

For me, when a large clod fell at once, too heavy for its
bearer to sustain, it was as the dull thud of a punch but between these violent
images the dainty-scurried footfalls of deer seemed to cascade pitter-patter
down from ruffled-in-the-wind branches at every step, keeping me company on the
white-towered desolation of the wintery mountain.

viernes, 17 de enero de 2014

Five, for me, has always been a special number. It was the age I got my first bike for a start! Not only that, how many children were in some of my favourite books when I was growing up? You got it. Five (can you guess which books?).

In the natural worldfive is an important number: did you know that almost all amphibians, reptiles, and mammals which have
fingers or toes have five of them on each hand and/or foot?

According to Aristotle, along with other ancient Greek philosophers,
the universe is made up of five classical elements: water, earth, air, fire, and
ether.

In Cantonese, 'five' has a similar pronunciation to their 'not' (character: 唔) and if it should appear before a lucky number, such as
"58", the result is said to be unlucky.

If you're into religion (or if you're not), here are a few 'five facts':

Jesus purportedly had five wounds.

For the Jews, the Khamsa, an ancient hand shaped symbol with five
fingers, is used as a protective amulet. The very same symbol is also popular in Arabic culture, known to protect from envy and the evil eye.

Muslims pray to Allah five times a day and there are five pillahs of Islam.

In the Sikh religion five is also sacred, The Guru
Gobind Singh prescribed five symbols and on top of that there are five deadly evils: